The Retroist on the Nerd Lunch Podcast

I was very happy to finally be able to sit down and talk to the guys at the Nerd Lunch Podcast a few days ago. The results of that talk are now up on their site (and here) as the newest episode of their show, which is titled, Memories of Retro Technology.

Here is the summary of the show from the Nerd Lunch site:

On this week’s episode we turn our attention to some of the technology that was cutting edge during our youths. We’re joined by the best retro expert we could ask for, The Retroist himself. During our conversation we stroll past all manner of tech gravestones including the Kodak Disc camera, Atari 2600, audio cassettes, the VCR, and the Super Bowl Shuffle (huh?). In our Nerd To-Do’s, we learn a little about table-top wargaming and find out which nerd is attempting to assemble the Young Justice version of the Hall of Justice.

and here is the actual episode for your listening pleasure:

If you like, you can directly download the show instead here or get it through itunes (and subscribe). Thanks to CT, Paxton and Jeeg for having me on, I had a very nice time and I hope I will get to hook up again with them in a future episode.

Oh and make sure you enjoy the reworked Nerd Lunch theme by Peachy. He knocks it out of the park.

Wooooowwww! Here’s how good this was: My wife, who thinks you’re all a bunch of fratboys, pulled up a chair and got into everything. For my part, I’m going to copy this to put on the retroist’s comment bar, so if it seems a little disjointed, that’s why.

First of all, you kids need to lighten up about being able to remember not having a microwave; I’m so old, I remember not having an oven.

Cameras: I just joined the digital era during the past year. For a long time I was hung up on an Argus stereoscopic camera. The finished pictures came back looking like two shots of the same thing side by side, then you put it into the viewer where you could view it in 3-D, like the old Viewmaster toy. The thing I REALLY like about digital is that you can look at the little screen, see if you blew the shot, and immediately take another (as opposed to waiting until you get home from the Grand Canyon to find out you had your thumb over the lens). If you still have any of those old cameras, CT, take care of them. I get a catalog once in while from Deutsche Optik (spelling issue) that sells refurbished old cameras from the mid-20th century. Some of them are worth thousands.

Anybody want to compare goofy looks in old photos? My heyday was the 60s, and every one of us could have made up a name and worked as a clown without changing one piece of clothing.

Finally, games. We used to play wargames, as in Avalon Hill products, et al, and also used toy ships and airplanes to fight battles with structure that we “ported” from the games; sort of reinvented miniatures, I guess. Anyway, we used to think that games would go electronic in the future, but envisioned remote controlled fleets and armies that each player would give general orders to from a console, which would then attempt to carry them out against the opponent’s strategy that was being implemented by his console. Guess that would have been the steampunk version…

Anyway, y’all chew on that while I head over to visit the Retroist. Great job, guys, this installment was really exceptional!

Listening to that episode reminded me why I unsubscribed to them a while ago. They are not that good. Nothing against you Retroist, you were the reason I gave them a listen to again. Your professionalism is top-notch and it was nice to hear some other stories from you. And hey, you did help bring a new fan to Murder She Wrote ;)

Hi. I was unfamiliar with your site or podcast before hearing you join the crew at Nerd Lunch. I will have to listen to some. It impressed me that you answered CT’s questions with stories that were personal, and emotionally tinted. Something that the Nerds never quite manage. Thank you for that!